Sure, we just compiled and published the 2015 death list in late December, but at early hours of New Year's Day, we found out that the "Unforgettable" singer Natalie Cole died on Thursday night (December 31st) at the age of 65 to ongoing health issues.

Like many of you who grew up in the 90s, we first heard of Natalie Cole when Elvis Presley's musical director Joe Guercio had this idea of remixing her father Nat King Cole into Natalie's cover "Unforgettable", creating a, simply put, an unforgettable duet. While some people criticized her for riding on the coattail of her father, you couldn't ignore that the duet won over fans and respect and remembrance for Nat King Cole. The duet went on to win three Grammy Awards in 1992 (Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance).

Her son, Robert Yancy, and sisters Timolin and Casey Cole issued this statement:

‚ÄúNatalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived..with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever.‚Äù

As expected, the former Guns N' Roses guitarist included several GNR classics throughout their set ("Nightrain", "You Could Be Mine", "Welcome to the Jungle", "Civil War", "Rocket Queen", "Sweet Child O' Mine"
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John and Vu talked about the rumor of a Guns N' Roses song on a 2015 December podcast (being edited as of this writing), and it's semi-confirmed that both Gn'R and LCD Soundsystem will reform for Coachella Music Festival!

After recently seeing Slash on his successful North American tour in Minneapolis, we didn't think he needed Axl Rose, but it would seem the two have kissed and made up.

As you know, Slash left Gn'R in 1996 (his last live performance with the band was in 1993) and never looked back.

Ray Waddell from Billboard is expecting a 25-date stadium tour, and that the band is asking for as much as $3 million per show (!) so tickets could cost as much as $275 per ticket.... making it for one of the most expensive tickets we've seen (discounting the after-market/scalper $10,000 tickets for Adele).

Will fans bear the expense? I think so, because you have to keep in mind that their debut album Appetite for Destruction is the biggest-selling debut in U.S. history, selling over 18 million records. In total, the album sold over 44.5 million units, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

I love Sinead O'Connor and I feel lately that she is crying for help. The first alarming thing we learned from her Facebook page (now deactivated!) is that she tried to commit suicide after a fight with her family in late November. Earlier in the year, O'Connor announced that she would stop performing "Nothing Compares 2 U" (no reasons given). She just didn't want fans going to her shows and being disappointed that she no longer performed her #1 hit song.

Then, about a week ago, she published a rather lengthy excerpt from a forthcoming biography (set for release in October 2016?). The story is about her second meeting with Prince (who wrote "Nothing Compares 2 U").

The story is really, really long, and since she deactivated her FB page, I can't really copy and paste the details for you to read, however, from my memory: a driver was sent to pick her up to drive to Prince's house. She described it as dark with no lights.... like Prince was a real life vampire. She was creeped out by the whole thing, and felt actual danger and even if she called the police, she didn't even know where she was.

She said Prince kept calling her "Shine-head" so she fired back at "Prance". It was clear from her writing that Prince was mad at her for recording his song without his involvement or blessing (?)... Possibly more reasons, but I must confess I skipped some paragraphs to get to the point.

At the end of it, she got into a "punch up" fight with Prince and he kicked her out of his home at 5 in the morning with no way of her to get back to her hotel.

I don't believe she made up the story, and if that happened, then you can understand why she does not want to sing "Nothing Compares 2 U"... However the incident happened in the 90s, so it felt a little late to finally bring up the reason why she doesn't sing the song. Perhaps people kept asking why she doesn't sing the song in 2015 and she finally decided to come clean.

As we reported in 2013, she did perform the famous song... but unenthusiastically:

And her biggest hit, ‚ÄúNothing Compares 2 U,‚Äù is given a requisite, unenthusiastic performance (although the crowd greeted the song with immense enthusiasm despite the rather lackluster performance).

We are big fans of Veruca Salt... so when we first heard about their reformation last March 2014 via a Record Store Day news, we've been keeping a very close eye on the band. â€¦

Reformed Veruca Salt is back on tour in support of their latest 2015 Ghost Notes (El Camino), their first "real" Veruca Salt album since 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You.

Charly Bliss

New York's Charly Bliss opened up the show, a tad later than advertised. But we soon discovered that it was well worth the wait, the young band had a very 90s alt girl rock (think Eve's Plum). It's hard not to like the band, especially seeing singer Eva get really excited about playing their songs.

The band was only three days on tour with Veruca Salt, but already, they exclaimed, "These are the best three days of our lives!" They also noted that no one cared about them in New York, but when they're on tour with VS, that their fans are just the best people.

They had spent 11 hours driving from their previous show to the Cedar Cultural Center, and according to the band, "Between St Louis and Minneapolis, there's only corn." They were now experiencing what they called "Corn PTSD" (post-traumatic stress disorder).

Highlight of their set was for "Dairy Queen", when Eva explained was about working on her birthday four years ago at the Dairy Queen... which incidentally was the next day (July 24th). Instantly, the audience started singing "Happy Birthday To You", but was jokingly shushed when they said it wasn't until tomorrow.

The band is still very new, with only a couple of EPs (Soft Serve and A Lot To Say), and they played those with new demos/unrecorded materials.

What can I say about Veruca Salt that hasn't been said? The band was on top of the world but for one reasons or another, a big old fight broke up between Louise Post and Nina Gordon... resulting in Gordon leaving the band in pursue her solo career. While Post continued using the name and released several albums, many felt that Ghost Notes is Veruca Salt's true third album.

Most of the fans at the Cedar Cultural Center show, was also at their previous reunion show at the Varsity Theater last year. Many of them buying the VIP package to meet/greet the band, and some of them drove as far as Canada. While the band has been absent for a while, as demonstrated by their dedicated fans, the band has not been forgotten.

Setlist

As with the new album tour, about half of their set featured songs from Ghost Notes ("Prince of Wales", "Black and Blonde", "Laughing in the Sugar Bowl", "Empty Bottle", "Come Clean, Dark Thing", "Triage", "The Museum of Broken Relationships", and "Alternica"), mixed in between songs from their beloved debut American Thighs and Eight Arms to Hold You.

Early in their set, Louise had problems with not able to hear herself and removed some plexiglass over the amps, so she can hear herself, but otherwise, the band sounded in top shape.

Some tidbits about their songs: "Shimmer Like a Girl" was "about girls in Minneapolis" while "Triage" was about "a big nasty fight". Truly the best (and most accurate) description was for "Alternica", which Nina said was their "most rock opera song we've ever wrote." It was truly epic, and worthy to end their set.

The three-song encore started with "Earthcrosser", followed by "Shutterbug", and ending with my current favorite Veruca Salt song, "Volcano Girls". According to the band, they recorded that song when their then-record label, Giffen Records, flew them to Hawaii to record Eight Arms to Hold You.

Judging by the success of the new tour and last year's tour, Veruca Salt is back and here to stay. Ghost Notes is out now on El Camino.

This Luscious Jackson CD I picked up, Fever in Fever Out, was bought for $2.95 at Amoeba Records in LA. Not much to say for Luscious except that they are out of Philadelphia and have broken up. The band was named after a baseball basketball .....

Did you know it's been over thirteen years since Luscious Jackson release their last album, Electric Honey?

Ticket stub to Luscious Jackson at First Avenue, Minneapolis (07/25/1999)

I did catch them on tour when they were touring in support of that album. I didn't know it would be the last time they would play in Minneapolis together.

I honestly couldn't tell you what was played, I didn't have Electric Honey, and I'm pretty sure they played those songsâ€¦ as well as their big hit song, "Naked Eye." What I can tell you was that night, there were a ton of Beatles fans in the audience. They were all wearing Beatles shirts! I didn't know it at the time, but Sean Lennon (John & Yoko's son) was in Cibo Matto, the opening band. I thought that was odd, considering that Cibo Matto really doesn't sound much like the Beatlesâ€¦

After that tour, the band broke up, singer/bassist Jill Cunniff explained, "We disbanded in 2000, knowing that having families and touring wouldn't mix. We had a great final run of shows. We have been friends since high school and there was always room for reinvention. We have an opportunity to become an independent band right now and it's really exciting."

Anyway, I'm happy to report that earlier this year, Luscious Jackson came back and decided to crowd source their new album on Pledge Music, which got funded right away with over 240% of their projected goal.

That was in March, you're probably wondering: what's going on? Where is the new album?

According to their Pledge update, Sandy happened and their mixer, Jamey Staub was hit hard with a tree that fell on his house/studio! The whole album is recorded; expect it to around December, or earlier, just in time for Christmas.

As a taster, you can grab "Are You Ready", a free download over at Pledge Music.

UPDATE: 12/18/12From Luscious Jackson

Gabby is recording guitar on a song we thought was finished. She said her guitar part sounds like dying cats. It doesn't. Only a little.

We listened to the whole album yesterday and decided that a few arrangements needed work. It was the first time we listened to all the songs as a whole. The good news is it works as a complete set of songs which connect sonically.

Now that we are 95% done with the recording, it's on to finishing the mixes and setting up the release of the album. Also, mixing the kids album.

Then we send it out to all the pledgers (pledgemusic.com/lusciousjackson). Then the rest of the world. Then rehearse. Then book shows.

• Blur to unveil two new songs via @blurofficial. Blur to release BLUR 21: The Box, 21-disc Deluxe Box Set including all 7 studio albums, plus b-sides, and a Seymour 7".
• The Stone Roses reformed and currently on tour in the UK
• Ride, or at least Mark Gardener, rides again. Underground Lovers and Sky Parade to open for him in Australia.
• The Afghan Whigs on tour in Australia
• Spiritualized's Sweet Heart Sweet Light• Song of the show is "Hey Jane" by Spiritualized